The Prefect and the Player
by Hot Pink Butterfly
Summary: A few days before the House Cup, Fifth year Oliver Wood is looking for a replacement seeker, and settles on a very unlikely player. Does Percy have the Quidditch genes? Contains light slash. Re-submitted 4/14/08.


Frustrated, I threw my books into my bag and stomped into the dorm. I stood at the window and stared at the pitch. Why did our only seeker have to go and play hero? Our final match was tomorrow! It was Gryffindor's first chance at winning the house cup since Charlie Weasley left. Turning at the sound of the door closing, I saw that Percy had entered the dorm and was getting ready to write a letter before going to bed. I squinted at him for a second, trying to hold a thought long enough to think it, when it hit me what we would do for the match tomorrow. I crossed the room so that I was standing right next to the post at the end of Percy's bed.

"Percy?" I asked. Percy looked up at me from what he was writing.

"Oh. Hello, Oliver." he said, offering me his full attention. I scratched the back of my head.

"Er- I was wondering if you'd like to play seeker in tomorrow's match?"

Percy's mouth dropped open. He closed it, opened it, and closed it again, clearly speechless. I felt the tendrils of doubt start creeping into my mind.

"I'm not very good at Quidditch, I'm afraid." he said.

"You grew up with Charlie, Fred and George. I'm sure you'll do alright. Do you want to?" I asked again. He looked at me for a moment before looking at his books, fixing his glasses. I patiently waited, while he sorted his thoughts. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally looked back up at me and nodded, although he still didn't look too sure about his decision. Feeling relieved, I had to hold back the urge to close the space between us and hug him.

**..:...:...:..**

"Percy? What are you doing here?" Fred asked me after I entered the Gryffindor changing room at the pitch.

"Yeah. This is a Prat-free zone, you know. Those Prats belong in the stands." George added.

Oliver looked up at me and smiled weakly. He handed me a set of scarlet robes, muttering that they should fit. I mumbled a "thanks," and as I slipped them on, I wondered for the 279th time since yesterday afternoon why I was doing this. I should have said no and stayed in the dorm to study for the OWLs that were half over. Fred and George didn't help as all they did was stare at me in astonishment until Oliver spoke up. He made a short pep talk, handed me a school broom, and led us down to the pitch.

After Oliver shook hands with the captain of the Ravenclaw team, Madam Hooch blew her whistle and we launched into the air. Oliver suggested to me at breakfast that morning to go above the game and look for the snitch. So while I was flying higher, I listened to the commentary.

"And in a surprise move, Wood has recruited Fred and George's brother, Percy, to play seeker this game. Was this a good move? I think we'll find out…"

I flew above the game, watching Ravenclaw's seeker and watching for that little round gold ball. Every so often, the crowed would cheer or boo, but the commentary was too hard to hear from where I was. At one point, a bludger missed me by mere inches. I'm pretty sure that Fred was the one that hit it my way, but it was hard to tell if it was him or George, since they were both red streaks below me. I was so busy watching for the snitch that I couldn't keep score. Suddenly the other seeker went into a dive, and I tried to follow him the best I could, but I was on one of those school brooms. Before I could get very far, the snitch was caught, the game was over. I noticed the disappointed looks on the rest of the Gryffindor team, so, pushing up my glasses, I asked Oliver what the score was. He looked at me.

"270 to 60." he replied bitterly before stomping off towards the changing room.

**..:...:...:..**

Damn. There went Gryffindor's chance of winning the inter- house Quidditch cup for the first time in seven years. I should have listened to the doubts I had about playing Percy, but I guess I hoped that he had the same Quidditch genes as his brothers. I stomped into the changing room, ripped off my scarlet robes and put my school ones back on. I shut myself in the captain's office, while Fred, George, Alicia, Angelina and Katie all changed solemnly and left. I worked on some tactics that we could use next year and ignored the soft knock on the door when it came. I didn't look up until Percy called my name softly. I was shocked to see that he almost looked like he wanted to cry. He had the robes in his hand. I took them from him and tossed them onto the chair.

"What's wrong, Percy?" I asked. The vulnerable expression on his freckled face unhinged me for a moment.

"I'm sorry I let you down, Oliver. I know that this- game- means a lot to you, and that I performed under your standards. I'm nothing like Charlie and I knew it."

As surprised as I was at the rare show of emotion coming from my normally stoic classmate, I had to smile inwardly at how Percy-ish he sounded even in the most distressing moments. He always wanted to be "Perfect Percy", appeasing anyone in charge. I had the overwhelming urge to comfort him, he looked so upset. I found myself walking closer to him.

"Relax, Percy. I'm not going to hate you. It wasn't entirely your fault. We should have given you a better broom. It might have had a chance with that dive." I comforted. Percy shook his head.

"No, no. It was entirely my fault. I should have-" but what he should have done, I didn't find out, because I suddenly stepped forward and brushed my lips against his. When he didn't break contact, I slipped the tip of my tongue across his lips before stepping back, watching his eyes for any change in emotion.

"Percy, you do have a tendency to ramble at times. I'm glad to know something can shut you up." I muttered, a smirk emerging on my lips.

"What do you mean, I ramble?" he asked, puffing up his chest. "I only say what is needed," he added stubbornly. I chuckled as we walked out of the changing room and into the afternoon light. Funny how with my biggest win, the score didn't seem to matter.


End file.
